Some 11-hundred factory workers in Marshalltown are working under contract today for the first time in nearly a year. Union leaders on Wednesday okayed a new five-year contract with the Lennox heating and air conditioning plant. Mike Schnelle, spokesman for United Auto Workers Local 893, says everyone’s happy.The union had rejected three previous contract offers. The old contract expired in October of 2004 and workers stayed on under extensions. Schnelle says he’s satisfied with what’s contained in the new contract, particularly in salary boosts. In the first year of the five-year agreement, there’s a three-percent increase along with lump sums and percentage increases in the fourth and fifth years, along with “modest gains” in pensions.
